New TwoToneDetect in the works - Python based

[dlnorth]

Originally Posted by UFCRSTTD

Hi all,
We have been using TwoTone Detect for over a year now with little to no problem. However about two months ago Verizon cell phones stopped receiving the text messages. I thought it may be because of SPAM Blocks from Verizon but they have confirmed its not. I have confirmed it is not a size or file type issue. It is received on AT&T phones and other carieers no problem. Any ideas? I'm really running out of ideas. Currently the way it works is it sends from an account 'alerts@domainname.com' which goes to a google group 'firealerts@domainname.com' where it is actually sent out. Any ideas?

I have been using this program for a few months now and am also having problems with Verizon. I can get the program to send directly to Verizon phones, but can't get it to work with Google Groups. I use Google Groups because it is so much easier to manage my user list. I think Verizon is blocking Google Groups emails. I have sent them using vtext.com and vzwpix.com and none of them have ever been received on a Verizon device. When I sent alerts to those same Verizon devices directly from TTD, they usually go through, although some are still missed. All other carriers receive Google Groups emails without problems.

[dlnorth]

The ability to discern which tone sent was being emailed would be a nice addition. I would like to have multiple tone sets set up for fire departments in various parts of my county and know when the page was received which page it was without having to actually play it.

Originally Posted by brian79z

Andy:

The program works now and I will be seeing if I have any bugs over the next week.
One thing I have noticed is a 2-5 min lag for Verizon & ATT to send the MMS text. Of course, I don't think it is you.

Suggestion for the next release:
Have the program send a set custom generic text message via email (123-555-1212@vtext.com)
This is so I can have a text sent out that says "XXXXFire Dept Fire page" or "Station 36 Rescue page" or "County weather alert" -- depending on the tone set detected. -- the community would LOVE the generic weather alert text.

Thanks again for a GREAT secondary alert system for members, hobbyists or curious fire/ems members who are out of the area for the day

[DC31]

Originally Posted by dlnorth

The ability to discern which tone sent was being emailed would be a nice addition. I would like to have multiple tone sets set up for fire departments in various parts of my county and know when the page was received which page it was without having to actually play it.

I am currently running v56 having previously run v48. In both of these the tone description from the tones.cfg file appears in the subject line of the email and also in the file name of the attachment. Try changing your descriptions to County Sta 10, County Sta 32, etc. to see if that helps.

[DC31]

Originally Posted by dlnorth

I have been using this program for a few months now and am also having problems with Verizon. I can get the program to send directly to Verizon phones, but can't get it to work with Google Groups. I use Google Groups because it is so much easier to manage my user list. I think Verizon is blocking Google Groups emails. I have sent them using vtext.com and vzwpix.com and none of them have ever been received on a Verizon device. When I sent alerts to those same Verizon devices directly from TTD, they usually go through, although some are still missed. All other carriers receive Google Groups emails without problems.

I tried the google groups setup in the past and gave it up as too much trouble. Somewhere in the archives of this forum a user made mention of running TTD from a dropbox acct. i had never even heard of dropbox. I set up an acct and now run TTD from there. In the past every time someone wanted their number/email changed, it meant a trip to he fire station to fix it. Now i can change them and make other tweaks from my easy chair at home. When i was running the program for only my department it was easy. Then the word got out and now I have around 15 departments in it. Got to be too many trips to the station.

Www.dropbox.com

[smittyj77]

Last night I have no idea what happen but missed a bunch of pages and missed then again tonight, check the debug log and I have it attached - says could not reach target machine. I hadn't chnaged a thing tried restarting program several times and nothing.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[putterizer]

Originally Posted by DC31

I tried the google groups setup in the past and gave it up as too much trouble. Somewhere in the archives of this forum a user made mention of running TTD from a dropbox acct. i had never even heard of dropbox. I set up an acct and now run TTD from there. In the past every time someone wanted their number/email changed, it meant a trip to he fire station to fix it. Now i can change them and make other tweaks from my easy chair at home. When i was running the program for only my department it was easy. Then the word got out and now I have around 15 departments in it. Got to be too many trips to the station.

Www.dropbox.com

I'm curious as to how you are using dropbox. Can you elaborate on that please? That sounds like it could solve a problem for me as google groups doesn't play well with verizon.

Thanks.

[aaknitt]

Originally Posted by smittyj77

Last night I have no idea what happen but missed a bunch of pages and missed then again tonight, check the debug log and I have it attached - says could not reach target machine. I hadn't chnaged a thing tried restarting program several times and nothing.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

It's detecting the page and recording audio, but it's not able to connect to whatever email server you're using. Have you recently changed your email password?

Andy

[DC31]

Originally Posted by putterizer

I'm curious as to how you are using dropbox. Can you elaborate on that please? That sounds like it could solve a problem for me as google groups doesn't play well with verizon.

Thanks.

Setup a dropbox acct. and install it on the computer running TTD. Your computer will then see dropbox as if it is another folder in your file system. Move your entire TTD folder into your dropbox folder. Then run twotonedetect.exe from the new folder in your dropbox rather than from the original folder on your computer. Now all your files in the dropbox TTD folder are accessible fom any computer anywhere as long as you log in with your username and password.

I have found that editing the tone.cfg file this way really only works from a windows machine. A Mac-based machine (including iPad) handles carriage returns at the ends of lines differently and TTD doesn't like them.

The process that i use is to download the tones.cfg to the local machine, do the edits, save it locally, delete the dropbox tones.cfg file, then upload the editted file. Works like a charm.

[DC31]

Originally Posted by DC31

The process that i use is to download the tones.cfg to the local machine, do the edits, save it locally, delete the dropbox tones.cfg file, then upload the editted file. Works like a charm.

your process may be different. I just remembered that i do this from a company-issued Windows machine where i am prohibited from installing dropbox. I have to do it through the dropbox web interface. The process would be even easier with dropbox installed on the machine remote from the fire station.

[putterizer]

Ok, thanks for the explanation. I was thinking somehow you were using dropbox to setup a distro list for email or something like that.
I understand how you are using dropbox now. Doing this and giving that much control to the end users would scare me. I could see how it would be easy for someone to delete something they weren't supposed to or forget to format something the correct way and then the program wouldn't work at all.

Again, thanks for the information.

[dlnorth]

Originally Posted by putterizer

Ok, thanks for the explanation. I was thinking somehow you were using dropbox to setup a distro list for email or something like that.
I understand how you are using dropbox now. Doing this and giving that much control to the end users would scare me. I could see how it would be easy for someone to delete something they weren't supposed to or forget to format something the correct way and then the program wouldn't work at all.

Again, thanks for the information.

I have Dropbox installed on a PC at work, but never considered using it as the OP does. Once you put the TTD files in your shared folder, every file in that folder would appear on your cellphone and could be edited remotely. As the files are edited, changes made to them would be reflected in the shared folder on the PC, which, in this case, would be where TTD is running. It is password protected, so the end users would never have access to the config files or any other files in the folder. All changes would have to be made by authorized personnel.

I'm looking for more of a distro list manager, but I think this would certainly be an improvement over having to be physically present at the PC running TTD to make any changes to the list.

[aaknitt]

Just FYI for everyone, in the next release I'll be adding a feature that will allow the program to read a tones.cfg file that's stored remotely on another server (via http). This will allow the program to run on one computer while the tone info can be on a web server or "in the cloud" to allow easier remote configuration of the file. This is accomplishing the same thing as running the program from Dropbox but will allow it to work on systems where Dropbox may not be able to be installed.

Someone who's skilled in web development could come up with a web interface for editing the tones.cfg file. In theory you could create a web login system that would allow multiple fire departments to edit their own distribution lists remotely...it's all just a matter of coding once the tones.cfg file is stored on a web server.

I also have a first pass at a separate standalone GUI program for editing the tones.cfg file that I'll include with the next release, which will probably be sometime over the Christmas holiday.

Andy

[DC31]

Originally Posted by putterizer

Ok, thanks for the explanation. I was thinking somehow you were using dropbox to setup a distro list for email or something like that.
I understand how you are using dropbox now. Doing this and giving that much control to the end users would scare me. I could see how it would be easy for someone to delete something they weren't supposed to or forget to format something the correct way and then the program wouldn't work at all.

Again, thanks for the information.

Exactly. You don't want others fooling around with the files. In my case, even with 15 departments involved, i am only asked to make changes once very couple weeks. I prefer to be the one making the changes. Once you give a department ability to make revisions to their list, every mistake they make or invald number that they enter will come back to you in an undeliverable notice in YOUR email box that you will have to deal with. And when the pages go to someone else due to a wrong number being entered, you will get the irate responses. When someone doesn't receive a page, they will likely come to you asking why theirs didn't work. You look into it and find that they entered a period rather than a comma between email addresses. We all do it, i'd rather have it be my mistake.

If you want the end users maintaining the list, just ask that they send you the list of email addresses formatted properly in a .txt file (notepad). Then you can simply copy and paste that into the tones.cfg file.

[CFDJustin]

Hello everyone! This is probably an obvious issue that I just can't seem to place my finger on. I have been testing the system and sending the pages to my phone. I am a verizon wireless user with an iPhone so I have tried both the mp3 file and the amr file. I have also tried the vtext.com and vzwpix.com (SMS and MMS gateways). I would get the text in less then a minute of the page with one issue. It wouldn't have the recording of the call on it. It would say: "(CVAC ALARM page recieved at 16:31:38) Page Recieved [Attachment(s) removed] Anyone know what this issue is and can help? I am currently running v56 of the program. Thanks for the help.

update: 1816 EST, I have gotten the software to send by using the MMS gateway. The issue now is that it is very slow. I wont recieve it until 10 minutes after the page is recieved. Because I want this to be reliable I would like to know if there is anyway to make this faster? Thanks again!
- Justin

[Smoky13]

When searching for the tone frequency to put into the program I have only been able to find one tone listed. That tone frequency is 162.2pl
is that a long tone frequency?
also several other depts in the area have that listed as there tone frequency as well but the licsence numbers are different.
any suggestions
thanks guys

[brian79z]

A couple of weeks with TTD and it seems fine.

1. What if there is a tone stackup, such as 2 departments tones are set back to back, then the dispatch message is heard. AND... my TTD is set to record both department tones.
Would TTD record the first tone set and notify the people in that tone set.... while not emailing the people listed in tone set 2?
Can I run 2 instances of TTD on 1 computer to catch both recordings?

Also.. would like the ability to just send out a generic text message - without the audio file. Is this possible?

Andy-- THANKS! for a great product.

[krokus]

No. The 162.2 is CTCSS, which most people call PL. (PL is short for Private Line, both are trademarked by Motorola. Like how "Kleenex" is used for a facial tissue.)

The tone or tones you need for this program are typically not published, as a minor security issue. You will have to talk to a radio person for the agency.

Typically, the tone or tones will be between 200 and 2000 Hertz. For example: 254.6/807.3
That would be a two tone set, that I made up with random numbers. The 254.6 would be the A tone, and the 807.3 would be the B tone.

[KD2DLL]

Just added my location to the map. Thanks for a great product

[DC31]

Originally Posted by brian79z

A couple of weeks with TTD and it seems fine.

1. What if there is a tone stackup, such as 2 departments tones are set back to back, then the dispatch message is heard. AND... my TTD is set to record both department tones.
Would TTD record the first tone set and notify the people in that tone set.... while not emailing the people listed in tone set 2?
Can I run 2 instances of TTD on 1 computer to catch both recordings?

Also.. would like the ability to just send out a generic text message - without the audio file. Is this possible?

Andy-- THANKS! for a great product.

My setup does this all the time as one department sends back to back tones for the paid guys and the vollies regularly. Each tone set is recorded and emailed as if it is the only one sent.

[DC31]

Originally Posted by brian79z

A couple of weeks with TTD and it seems fine.

1. What if there is a tone stackup, such as 2 departments tones are set back to back, then the dispatch message is heard. AND... my TTD is set to record both department tones.
Would TTD record the first tone set and notify the people in that tone set.... while not emailing the people listed in tone set 2?
Can I run 2 instances of TTD on 1 computer to catch both recordings?

Also.. would like the ability to just send out a generic text message - without the audio file. Is this possible?

Andy-- THANKS! for a great product.

Sorry, i should have paid closer attention to your note and less to the cold one in front of me... Yes, you can run multiple instances of TTD on one computer but there is no need to accomplish what you are trying to do. TTD handles stacked tones perfectly.

To send out a text without the audio to a cell phone, use the non-mms address. For verizon that s xxxx@vtext.com and for att it is xxx@txt.att.net. Other carriers likely have similar addreses.